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Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Daily Update: March 21, 2022

Ontario introduces bill to limit disruptions of cross-border commerce, Municipal 511 brings road and emergency info to Niagara, and more.

In this edition:

Ontario introduces legislation to limit disruptions of cross-border commerce
Municipal 511 brings road closure and emergency information to Niagara residents
Fair offered to Niagara Falls child and youth sport & recreation providers
Watch St. Catharines State of the City 2022 on YourTV


Ontario introduces legislation to limit disruptions of cross-border commerce

The Keeping Ontario Open for Business Act, 2022 includes legislative measures to enable police officers to better protect international border crossings.

If passed, the Act would:

  • make it illegal to obstruct certain transportation infrastructure if the blockage disrupts economic activity or interferes with the safety, health or well-being of the public
  • grant police officers the power to remove, maintain possession of and store objects, including vehicles, for 30 days
  • permit police to impose roadside suspension of drivers’ licences and vehicle permits or to seize licence plates for 14 days when a vehicle is used in an illegal blockade of protected transportation infrastructure
  • allow the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to suspend or cancel the plate portion of a commercial motor vehicle or trailer permit or a Commercial Vehicle Operator’s Registration (CVOR) certificate
  • punish offences under the new legislation, except a failure to identify oneself, with one-year imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $100,000 for an individual. Directors and officers of corporations could face up to $500,000 in fines, up to one year imprisonment, or both. Corporations can face up to $10,000,000 in fines
  • allow a provincial offences court to direct the Registrar to suspend the driver’s licence and deny vehicle permit renewals for people who are convicted of violating the new legislation and do not pay their fines.

Click here to read more.

Click here for a summary of the Act.


Municipal 511 brings road closure and emergency information to Niagara residents through pilot program

Niagara Region is pleased to collaborate with Municipal 511 on a two-year pilot program to provide accurate and up-to-date information regarding road closures, construction activities on Regional roads and emergency information to the community. Municipal 511 is a bilingual digital traveller information service used by more than 50 per cent of municipalities in Ontario and the Ministry of Transportation (Ontario 511).

Click here to read more.


Sport and Recreation Fair offered to Niagara Falls child and youth sport & recreation providers

The City of Niagara Falls Recreation & Culture Department is hosting a Sport and Recreation Fair at the MacBain Community Centre on Saturday, April 23, 2022.

The City invites businesses and organizations providing these services to showcase themselves to the community by participating in this one-stop-shop for families to discover programs and activities such as gymnastics, martial arts, dance, soccer, baseball, rowing, and much more.

Click here for more information.


Watch St. Catharines State of the City 2022 on YourTV

Those who missed Mayor Sendzik’s 2022 State of the City address can watch it this evening on YourTV Niagara. Click here for more information.


Reading Recommendations


Update on Ukraine

$17bn of global assets linked to 35 Russians with alleged ties to Putin

The Guardian

More than $17bn (£13bn) of global assets – including offshore bank accounts, yachts, private jets and luxury properties in London, Tuscany and the French Riviera – have been linked to 35 oligarchs and Russian officials alleged to have close ties to Vladimir Putin.

Today, the Guardian, working in a partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and other international news organisations, is unveiling the initial research in an ongoing project to track the wealth of Russia’s most powerful operators.

The Russian asset tracker project will start by focusing on a list of 35 men and women named last year as Putin’s alleged enablers by the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. It will record assets outside Russia where the reporting partners have seen evidence connecting them to these individuals.

Navalny’s organisation wrote to western governments requesting the names on its list be considered for sanctions and all but two have since been blacklisted by either the US, EU, UK or Canada.

The names include four of the wealthiest oligarchs, plus heads of state-controlled companies, prominent broadcasters, spy agency chiefs, ministers, political advisers and regional governors. They have been read out in the US Congress by lawmakers seeking tougher penalties for the Russian elite and in the UK parliament by the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran.

Click here to read more.


Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.


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